Jay Bakker pointed this video out to me yesterday. Rob Bell, looking frumpled and tired from a long book tour, was on a Christian radio show in the UK. Instead of talking about his book, the host and a conservative pastor push and push and push Rob of homosexuality. Rob grows increasingly frustrated until he tells them this is the “bullshit that really, really, really pushes people away” (16:45).

I encourage you to watch the whole 20 minutes, and here’s why. We most often see Rob in scripted situations (on stage, in Nooma videos), but here you see his heart, his vulnerability, his frustration, and how much shit he takes for his open and affirming stance:

If you’re like me, you’d like to listen to radio when the kids are in the house that’s somewhere between the cotton candy of Radio Disney and the occasional F-Bomb on The Current (or your favorite alt music station). Minnesota Public Radio fills in that gap with an excellent station called Wonderground Radio. He had it on last night and heard everything from the Jayhawks, to bluegrass, to DeVotchka, to Coldplay, to “Conjunction Junction, What’s Your Function?”

Yes, that ABC: The Australian Broadcasting Network. I was interviewed for their religious issues show, Sunday Nights, by Noel Debien. He was fantastic — thoughtful, knowledgable, curious. Everything you want in a long-form interview. Afterwards, he told me that I was “passionate” and “discursive.” Looking back, I probably could have been less discursive! But, oh well, I’ve always appreciated tangents.